Bird
by Tom Tomorrow
Summary: It must be a bird. Nothing else could possibly be flying into her apartment at a quarter past one, sleepy logic tells her. (Maggie finds out about Supergirl's identity in a very different way.)


_It must be a bird._

This is the first thing Maggie thinks when she awakens to the sound of glass shattering.

Never mind that it sounds loud. That it sounds like the whole wall had caved in.

Because it must be a bird.

The detective lives on the twenty third floor, nothing else could possibly be flying into her apartment at a quarter past one, sleepy logic tells her.

But still, she reaches for her service weapon, a nasty habit that came from years on the police force.

And holds it in front of her as she moves towards the source.

 _It must be a bird._

She turns into her living room.

Tenses up and freezes.

Someone else is here.

The moonlight illuminates the figure.

And under its pale hue, Maggie recognizes the blue fabric, the stitched 'S', the sweep of red in the cape.

Not a bird.

Supergirl.

What the hell?

Maggie reaches behind her, lowers her gun a fraction as she palms the wall for the light switch, and after a moment yellow light floods the room.

"You realize you're going to have to pay for that, don't you?"

The tall blonde turns towards her then.

And the detective immediately realizes something's off.

There's no visible injury to her person, but that doesn't mean something isn't wrong.

The woman's pupils are pinpricks, like dots in the expanse of blue, but at the same time haunted and sunken.

Her skin is pale in parlor, a sickly white against the dark blue fabric of her uniform.

And she's not at all holding the bubbly demeanor, she'd held in the few times that they'd worked alongside each other.

For a moment, no one says anything. For a moment, they're both frozen.

Maggie's silent as she watches confusion, then relief, the panic wash over the taller woman's expression in successive order.

Then the caped hero jerks her line of sight back towards the window she'd crashed through.

The detective, picking up on the anxiety, feels her heart begin to race, as she follows the hero's sightline.

All she can see is the streetlights of the city.

There must be something that she's missing. Something else.

Supergirl turns back to her and panic highlights her demeanor.

"They're following us. They're following… We need to get out of here."

The blonde's words are strained and heavy and thick.

But something is off kilter in the way she says it, leaving more questions than answers.

And the detective doesn't know quite what to believe.

"They're coming… And they're going too- They're recording everything. It's a trap. The cameras… I need to get rid of the cameras…"

Supergirl is muttering to herself, looking away again, past the detective.

The tall blonde steps forward, and Maggie finds herself stepping back.

Tightening the grip on her gun, though she knows it won't do anything.

There's a visible stilt in her gait.

Like she was intoxicated…

"Okay, okay, okay…"

Maggie holds her hands up, pointing the gun away, but refusing to release her weapon, keeping it as a buffer in between them.

Mind working furiously as she tries to figure out what the hell is going on.

What cameras? Who's following them?

"I-It's not safe here anymore… We have to go Kal, we have to leave."

The situation grows murkier.

Who the hell is Kal?

But she decides to play along, in fear of what will happen if she doesn't.

"Where do we have to go?"

She asks.

"Away… away… But first the cameras…"

Supergirl seems to be mostly speaking to herself.

And she's moving forward again. Unsteady, but unwavering.

Pushing past the detective, over into the adjoining room.

Disappearing from her vision momentarily, leaving her to look at the shattered glass on the wooden floor.

Maggie releases a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

 _Don't follow her. Don't follow her. That's how people die in horror movies._

Her inner voice screams, but her police training commands her to do the exact opposite.

Because she can't let civilians get in the way of whatever's happening.

She needs to try to keep this contained.

So, she lowers her gun and reaches for her phone.

Slowly and carefully dials out Alex's number as she trails the blonde who's unsteadily making her way towards the kitchen.

Cursing each successive dial tone the buttons make when she presses them, but Supergirl doesn't seem to notice.

Moving like a zombie, lurching forward with each step.

She gets voicemail on the first ring.

Shit.

Voicemail it is.

"Listen, Alex… I don't know where you are right now, but there's someone here in red and blue that might belong to you -"

Before she can even finish the sentence, the other end of the phone picks up.

And suddenly she's talking to Alex, instead of her recording.

"Shit. Maggie? Where are you?"

Alex sounds out of breath and Maggie can hear orders being barked in the background along with a flurry of other commotion she can't quite pinpoint.

And the sliver of worry slips with realization, when she realizes that Alex must still be at work.

That of course, this must have been a work thing.

"I'm at my apartment."

Maggie says slowly. Says quietly, as the red-caped hero moves about the kitchen, ripping electronics from the wall. Tearing doors off cabinets.

The detective cringes at the loud, uninhibited movements and tightens her grip on her service weapon as she presses herself against the wall.

On the other line, she can hear tires screeching and sirens whirling.

"Damn it! How does she even know wher- Listen, Maggie, something happened in the field and it's hard to explain, but she's not in her right mind right now."

The panic in Alex's voice isn't exactly reassuring.

And Maggie's mind is immediately drawn to the Red-K incident that occurred some months ago.

She'd been new in the city then, a brand-new transfer, but she'd heard rumors of the reason why Supergirl had nearly destroyed the city she had promised to protect.

"Yeah… I've gathered that…"

The detective murmurs dryly.

But this isn't anger, this is paranoia.

The blonde superhero is muttering something in a language she can't understand.

Having moved on to the piping of her sink, pulling at the copper until a snapping hiss reverberates throughout the room.

Steam shoots from the copper metal. Followed by a whoosh of rushing water.

"Look, look we're two blocks away. You need to get out of there, Maggie."

"It's-, she thinks she's protecting me. She called me, Kal?"

There is silence on the other end.

"Alex?"

"We're almost there. Just... Just be careful okay?"

"Yeah… I'll keep her here."

Maggie doesn't hang up the phone as she turns back to the hero.

The blonde is murmuring frantically, rifling through the drawers with one hand as she rubs her temple with the other.

"The cameras… Where are they… Where are they…?"

"I don't think… I don't think there's any cameras in there."

Maggie tries hesitantly, cringing as another drawer is ripped out without discrimination.

"No. Nonono- NO! They're… I saw them. I know they're here. If we don't get rid of them- If we don't…"

She moves to another drawer.

Hastily spilling its contents onto the floor.

And Maggie has to step back to avoid the spreading pool of water.

Minutes pass by this way.

And there is no convincing her of anything.

Suddenly, Supergirl goes rigid.

Pauses and tilts her head toward the living room.

Then faster than humanly possible the woman is blurring in front of her, gripping her wrist tightly.

Pulling her along roughly, back to the window that she had crashed into.

The door slams open.

The DEO.

"Supergirl!"

Alex is here.

The first through the door.

Doe eyes big and wide as they flit between Maggie and the superhero in front of her.

Enunciating worry, and guilt, and unsureness, all at the same time.

Three or four agents fill in behind of her.

Followed by Director Henshaw himself.

The blonde's grip on her wrist tightens and Maggie winces under the bruising pressure.

And while the hero doesn't seem to notice, Alex does.

"Supergirl, listen to me."

Alex is lowering her gun to the ground.

Extending her hands in surrender.

And even though Maggie is the one being held hostage, she wants Alex to stop.

To stop putting herself in reckless danger.

The brunette steps forward, but the blonde steps away.

Boots crunching under the broken glass.

"It's not real. You were in a fight against a Svrcino, remember? He's presenting you with an alternate reality. What you're seeing now, it isn't real."

Alex's tone is soothing and forcibly calm as she tries to persuade the ailing superhero into letting the detective go.

The blonde murmurs something that she can't understand in response.

Alex's expression knits together in confusion and so does Director Henshaw's but neither waver in their conviction.

And Maggie isn't sure who the words are being directed too, her or the DEO team, as the blonde inches further backward, pulling her along with her.

"That isn't Kal. He's in Metropolis. That's Maggie. The detective. My girlfriend, remember?"

The blonde's eyes flit towards Maggie for a moment.

And she wavers in place for a moment, as if seriously considering.

Then she stills as her resolve strengthens.

"You're lying!"

Supergirl's grip tightens further, blocking off her circulation, grinding against muscle and bone.

And she isn't listening anymore.

Instead she's whispering to the detective.

"Kal, you need to go. I can take them, but you need to- need to-"

"Kara, listen to me…"

Kara?

Kara.

And suddenly things come together.

Make more sense.

Memories flash by in her mind.

But she has no time to think of it now.

Not as the pain grows exponentially.

"Fine, fine! Look at Kal, Kara. Look at him. You're hurting him!"

Alex concedes to her sister's faux reality, playing along with her sister's impaired mind.

Supergir-, no Kara, blinks again.

Eyes flitting between Maggie and the DEO and Alex.

Then eventually her cobalt vision scrutinizes the detective closely.

And after a moment, she feels Kara's tight iron grip loosen fractionally.

It's better than nothing.

"Good… good…."

Alex placates as she inches forward.

When there is no further movement, the brunette slowly reaches out for Maggie.

And suddenly the wall is back up.

Faster than she can comprehend.

"No! NO! You're not taking him away!"

Kara's eyes are green, heating up with power.

Safeties click off. Men steady their aim.

"Kara!"

Alex to her sister.

"Stand Down!"

Director Henshaw yells to his team.

Too little too late.

Heat vision is unleashed.

Aimed at the weapons of the DEO agents.

The agents jump out of the way.

Yelling, screaming.

Alex is still standing, where she was last, trying to talk her sister down.

Director Henshaw is moving forward.

And in the commotion a gun is fired.

And everything slows down.

In a fluid movement, she finds herself completely behind the taller blonde.

A sharp thwick resounds throughout her apartment.

Then another one. And another. And another.

People are still shouting. Alex especially. Director Henshaw too.

Yelling at whoever fired those bullets. Demanding them to stand down.

And Maggie finds herself looking at the floor. At the ground between Supergirl's feet.

Drops of crimson are falling. Dotting the wooden floor. Staining it like budding scarlet flowers.

At first, she doesn't understand. Supergirl is bulletproof.

Then she doesn't have enough time to understand.

Another thwick pierces the air.

And a white-hot streak of pain streaks up her arm.

A bullet? A bullet, she decides.

Time snaps forward.

Maggie groans and Kara staggers backwards.

The blonde is pushing her back. Pushing her further from Alex. Further from the DEO team.

And she's strong. Too strong.

Wielding so much strength, that even when the tall blonde is stumbling, staggering under the weight of bullets that should have never left a mark, Maggie has no choice but to move along with her.

One step. One step. One more.

And she hears the panicked shouts as the remnants of the glass window prickle against her back as it shatters behind her.

And then her feet are touching air.

Their faces. Their guns. Their voices. It all slips away.

Wind screams in her ears. Wind whips her breath away.

The bricks, the windows, the lights blur past. Merging into one another, merging into one.

And for a moment, she doesn't feel the pain.

The bruising ache of her wrist. The sharp, pulsing agony of the bullet wound.

Gone.

A small respite as she hurtles towards the unforgiving ground in tandem with the falling hero.

Her vision blurs, as she blindly claws out for something to slow the descent.

Something to stop the inevitable, sudden stop.

Because twenty-three stories… It was a long way to the fall.

An arm snakes around her.

It takes for a moment for Maggie to realize it's Kara.

Kara, who must have realized, that Maggie as this Kal person, can't fly.

It takes another moment, as the detective is tucked into caped superhero's chest, as they begin to level off, for her to realize that the blonde isn't getting enough thrust.

To realize that they're still going to hit the ground.

The blonde twists suddenly. Turns sharply and arches. Until the detective is facing the sky again.

Until it's Kara landing first.

Absorbing most of the impact, as they hit the pavement.

The shock vertebrates through her.

Hurling stars into her vision, shooting red-hot pain through her limbs.

As they skid up into the air again, skipping down the darkened street like a flat stone on water.

Until they finally collide against parked a Honda Civic.

The metal groaning and twisting around them as it fails to absorb the visceral force.

The detective, all sore bones and aching muscles, lurches off the woman.

Weakly crawls, one… two feet away and expels whatever she can muster from her stomach.

Her vision turns sideways, swims in circles, as her mind begins to register the pain once more.

She stays there for some moments more, dry heaving, as she tries to rid herself of the overwhelming nausea until a haggard, wet cough draws her attention.

And she turns back.

Kara's struggling to stand. Too push herself off the floor.

Five splotches of red ooze across her torso.

Two holes tear neatly through the blue fabric on her upper right chest.

Three more puncture the big red S in the middle.

Something green, a glowing neon color, seems to be coursing up her skin in linear droves.

There's crimson dribbling from her mouth.

Her hands are shaking with the effort it takes.

And still the blonde is still trying to stand.

She can't even begin to reconcile this person with the bubbly superhero.

Can't begin to reconcile this person with the lively reporter. With her girlfriend's little sister.

Heavy boots hitting pavement rip her focus away again, as another presence makes itself known.

A tall, masculine, green Martian, swims into her wavering vision, standing at full height in front of her.

His red eyes pierce hers with a burning familiarity, but then nothing is making sense anymore.

Another wave of nausea sweeps past and she can't even muster up the energy to move.

However, the muscular green man doesn't seem to have his sights on her as he turns to settle his sights on Kara.

"Supergirl. You need to let us help."

The aching familiarity doesn't falter.

Supergirl shivers violently as she palms her way up, wavers on her two feet, and with absolutely no conviction stutters a slurred response.

"Y-you you need to stay… Stay away from us!"

The green Martian takes a step forward and Kara turns toward her.

"Kal, run!"

But she isn't Kal. And she doesn't move.

She doesn't know if she can.

But it doesn't matter.

Because the collision of the two aliens, like boulders crashing together, will be something she remembers forever.

People are outside now.

Drawn like flies to light with all the loud commotion.

Murmuring, whispering, recording things on their phones.

She hears sirens in the distance, as she watches the aliens shoot up to the sky.

Punch after punch.

Blow after blow.

Black vans tear around the corner. The DEO insignia is stark on their sides.

And when the vehicles slide to a halt, Alex is the first one out.

Running towards her, but eyes searching the sky.

Her girlfriend doesn't even stop to say anything.

Stopping just long enough to shrug herself under Maggie's uninjured arm, lift her up, and start running back towards the car.

Within moments she realizes the why.

What goes up must come down.

There's a roar and crash as the aliens come flying back towards the ground.

J'onn's on top of her, holding her against the concrete with her hands behind her back, with as much restraint as he can handle.

Kara's writhing underneath him. Screaming. Haggardly, hoarsely, weakly.

And when the blonde's eyes fall on her, being ushered into the DEO mandated vehicle, those screams form words.

"Let Kal Go! Let him go!"

And hearing the desperation, the fear in her voice…. Maggie has to look away.

… …. … …. ….

"I'm sorry."

Those are the first words she hears when consciousness springs forward.

Everything hurts. Everything is sore.

And as she blinks the ceiling above her into focus, she's still trying to pinpoint what exactly hurts most.

There are many things she can say in response to Alex's words.

What happened and where am I, are a few that come to mind.

But instead she asks, "Why are you apologizing?"

The detective turns to face her girlfriend. Turns toward Alex whose eyes are filled with unshed tears.

"For this. For everything."

The tall brunette murmurs miserably.

"Alex, none of this is your fault. I've gotten shot before."

The detective wheezes as her sore muscles protest.

Her arm is stitched up now, she realizes, wrapped in bandages, like most of her body.

"You've never gotten shot and pushed out of a twenty-three-story building. That's on me."

Her girlfriend incredulously shoots back at her, Alex's wretched expression threatens to become a permanent, and Maggie hastens to make sure she understands.

"That wasn't your fault, that was Supergirl's, and not even hers really, it was the alien from that mission who messed with her head. It was his fault. No one else."

The detective reiterates.

Alex bites her lip, and Maggie can tell she wants to say something further, but instead she deflates a little at her words.

"How are you feeling?"

She finally asks in a whisper.

"I feel like I just got shot and fell out a twenty- three story building, but I'm going to be fine."

Alex gives her a half-hearted glare, but Maggie only smiles drowsily.

In the distance, she notices someone else is on the cot, she'd previously assumed was empty, across from her. Behind Alex.

Kara.

Supergirl lays still under a contraption of fancy looking lights, electrodes and wires twisting up and down her skin.

Her eyes are closed, her expression relaxed.

"Is she going to be okay?'

She asks, motioning towards the sleeping alien.

Remembering the bullet wounds and the resulting crimson red that had poured from the younger woman.

Alex's eyes flicker away for a moment as she turns towards Kara.

And she coughs awkwardly.

"Yeah… yeah… She should be fine. She just needs to sleep it off."

A flutter of relief flitters over her. Relief that whatever happened wasn't permanent.

"So… Supergirl is your sister?"

She drawls because there is no better way to ask.

And Alex turns back at the detective, tears filling her eyes again.

"Yeah… I was going to tell you. I just… It's complicated."

Maggie nods her head in understanding.

Tries to shift the blame from Alex, who seems so intent on placing it on herself.

"No, no I get it. Can't be a superhero, if everyone knows your name. It paints a target on your back."

Something akin to relief flutters across Alex's expression when she realizes that the detective understands.

Maggie smiles tiredly.

"To be honest, I kind of already kind of suspected, the glasses don't really help."

Alex chuckles.

A watery one, but a real one.

"That's what I said, but you'd be surprised."

They lapse into something of a silence, listening only to the steady beeps of the medical machines that fill the room.

And as more morphine drips into her system, Maggie finds herself thinking over the events that occurred earlier that morning.

It seems like a blur now, but she remembers green bullets flying.

Remembers falling.

Remembers Kara screaming. Screaming for her- not her- Kal.

"Who's Kal?," she wonders out loud. "Never mind, it's not really my business."

The detective murmurs hastily, realizing she's probably overstepping her bounds.

"No, no I owe you an explanation. You were right in the middle of it."

Alex hurriedly interrupts as Maggie tries to backtrack.

"Kal is short for Kal-El. He's her cousin. Superman."

Alex explains when the detective's drugged mind doesn't make the connection.

"Superman? I mean… he's Superman. Why would he need her protection?

The taller brunette leans forward, pinches the bridge of her nose.

A sign the detective has come to associate with frustration.

"Mags, Kara… Kara is older than Clark."

Maggie frowns at that.

Because the last time she checked, Kara Danvers was in her mid-twenties and Clark Kent was in his mid-thirties at best.

"She was thirteen. Thirteen when her whole planet had been destroyed. Thirteen when they sent her here. Clark was only a baby at the time. And originally, he was the only one that was supposed to be here. But they were worried, so her parents sent her after him, to make sure he had someone to-"

"Protect him."

Maggie finishes.

Alex nods.

"But something knocked her pod off course and she was stuck in some timeless zone for a while. I don't know the specifics. But when she finally ended up coming to Earth, it was nearly two decades after him. Clark was already in college, but she hadn't aged a day."

Her girlfriend pauses, something indecipherable flashing in her eyes, as unspoken memories filter to the surface.

Something in her tone changes when she mentions Clark, and it makes Maggie think that there is more to it than that.

But it seems like a story for another time and Alex is already plowing forward.

"Yeah, so when the mission went south, when the Svrcino got a hold of her… It must have presented her with an altered reality and made her think that Clark was still in danger. Made her feel that intense need to protect him. And for some reason, the manifestation of Clark was pushed onto you."

Maggie tries to picture a younger Kara.

Tries to imagine how she would feel if her entire planet had been destroyed.

She sounded so torn up…

"I can't even imagine…"

Alex nods sympathetically, looking back towards her younger sister.

For a moment neither of them say anything.

"I guess we'll know more when she wakes. "

Maggie shifts into a more comfortable position.

Her limbs feel heavy, her mind does too.

And a sudden, overwhelming urge to sleep sweeps over her.

"You know… I thought she was a bird."

Alex smiles.

"Get some rest, Mags. I'll be here when you wake up."


End file.
